JETs with J.D.s >> The New Interviewing Buzzword: Emotional Intelligence
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Andrew R. McCarthy (Akita-ken, 2005-08) is a law student at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law focusing on international trade, business, and tax. He currently runs the blog JETs with J.D.s, an information source for current JET alumni law students and prospective law students for career paths and approaches within the current legal market. For those considering law school and trying to comprehend the costs and the risks of such an endeavor, he also recommends The Law School Tuition Bubble.
You may not have to channel Miss Cleo to get legal employment these days. But, in addition to the healthy dose of luck you’ll need, the legal career services world has created a brand new buzzword concept through which all prospective employees can be vetted: emotional intelligence. What is emotional intelligence, you ask? Emotional intelligence, or as those trying to sound more professional than they really are might call it, “EI,” is the demonstrated ability to show, and practice, professional competence by providing good answers to hypothetical questions and connecting with interviewers. The idea behind the concept is that you are being hired not just for your legal acumen and ability to detect italicized commas in a document of hundreds of pages — you’re being hired to develop and maintain clients. What does this all boil down to? What help, if any, does a JET background provide? Is law school even conducive to developing “emotional intelligence?”
All those answers (or at least educated guesses) are right here.
JETs with J.D.s >> Judicial Clerking in the Tropics
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Andrew R. McCarthy (Akita-ken, 2005-08) is a law student at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law focusing on international trade, business, and tax. He currently runs the blog JETs with J.D.s, an information source for current JET alumni law students and prospective law students for career paths and approaches within the current legal market. For those considering law school and trying to comprehend the costs and the risks of such an endeavor, he also recommends The Law School Tuition Bubble.
Former JETs naturally have a little bit of adventurer in them. Unfortunately, the sedentary life of the law student spells disappointment for those of accustomed to a more active life. This isn’t to say going out and enjoying life doesn’t happen in law school. But if you like inordinate amounts of time reading and editing italicized commas, however, you’re in for a real treat.
Fortunately, life after law school doesn’t necessarily have to be like that — and if you still have that glimmer of a sense of adventure and the desire to live in not-so-often traveled parts of the world, a judicial clerkship in on of America’s international territories might be what you’re after.
To read information regarding clerkships available in Palau, click here.
For those interested in American Samoa, here.
For those interested in clerking for the Northern Mariana Islands, information is available here.
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Matt Leichter (matt [dot] leichter [at] gmail [dot] com) (Saitama-ken 2003-05) is a renegade attorney who plays by his own rules. He operates his own blog, The Law School Tuition Bubble, where he archives, chronicles, and analyzes the rising cost and declining value of legal education in the United States. He also maintains the “Bankruptcy Legal Topics,” and, “Bankruptcy Billables,” sections for Steven Horowitz’s Bankruptcy Bill. For further reading regarding JETs and the law, he recommends JETs with J.D.s.
I’m not sure, but some JETs who go on to law school choose Temple University, or at its Japan Campus (TUJ) as I did. For those of you who’re Pennsylvanians or contemplating studying law in Pennsylvania, I have for you a Frankensteinian experiment, “Failure to Launch: The Curious Case of Wilkes Law School, PA.”
Land of 10,000 Lakes and One Tuition Bubble
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Matt Leichter (matt [dot] leichter [at] gmail [dot] com) (Saitama-ken 2003-05) is a renegade attorney who plays by his own rules. He operates his own blog, The Law School Tuition Bubble, where he archives, chronicles, and analyzes the rising cost and declining value of legal education in the United States. He also maintains the “Bankruptcy Legal Topics,” and, “Bankruptcy Billables,” sections for Steven Horowitz’s Bankruptcy Bill. For further reading regarding JETs and the law, he recommends JETs with J.D.s.
Before leaving to teach in Saitama, I remember going to a Minnesota handcrafts shop in the Mall of America to find gifts for my new coworkers that reflected my home state. I think I bought some of them a bag of wild rice and then I bought a beautiful box of assorted jelly beans from Candyland on North Wabasha in Saint Paul. All were well received. When I left JET, though, even then I knew better than to study law in my home state of just over 4,000,000 with all four of its law schools in the Twin Cities. For those of you who’re Minnesota JETs like me, or want to study law in the North Star state, these posts are for you.
Law School: You Get What You Put into It…Sort of
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Matt Leichter (matt [dot] leichter [at] gmail [dot] com) (Saitama-ken 2003-05) is a renegade attorney who plays by his own rules. He operates his own blog, The Law School Tuition Bubble, where he archives, chronicles, and analyzes the rising cost and declining value of legal education in the United States. He also maintains the “Bankruptcy Legal Topics,” and, “Bankruptcy Billables,” sections for Steven Horowitz’s Bankruptcy Bill.
Law school isn’t always a bad option. If you bring more than a bachelors (of arts!) degree to the table, you have a better chance of coming out ahead after graduating. For those of you whose eyes are bleeding from memorizing kanji for the JLPT 一級, take a break and read this post. Don’t worry, it’s in English.
A Half-Hearted Defense of the Legal Services Cartel
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Matt Leichter (matt [dot] leichter [at] gmail [dot] com) (Saitama-ken 2003-05) is a renegade attorney who plays by his own rules. He operates his own blog, The Law School Tuition Bubble, where he archives, chronicles, and analyzes the rising cost and declining value of legal education in the United States. He also maintains the “Bankruptcy Legal Topics,” and, “Bankruptcy Billables,” sections for Steven Horowitz’s Bankruptcy Bill.
Wait a second? Why would I defend the ABA when it fails to act on the tuition bubble? I have my reasons between labor cartel and attorney oversupply, and you can read them here.
An International List of Writing Organizations and Opportunities
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Laura Popp (Mie-ken, 2009-Present) is a current JET who writes fantasy and science fiction for children and young adults, and is an occasional playwright/film maker. Her short work includes a short story titled “In theShadow Realm” and a documentary she made in Malawi. To read about her amazing adventures all over Japan, go to her blog at laurajanepopp.blogspot.com.
Here is a practical list of organizations, market guides, and networking opportunities for jump starting your writing career. My apologies that it is heavy on the America and Speculative Fiction side, but that is who I am and what I write, so that is what I know best. But hopefully everyone can find something useful from this list:
The Charge of the Juris Doctor Brigade
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Matt Leichter (matt [dot] leichter [at] gmail [dot] com) (Saitama-ken 2003-05) is a renegade attorney who plays by his own rules. He operates his own blog, The Law School Tuition Bubble, where he archives, chronicles, and analyzes the rising cost and declining value of legal education in the United States. He also maintains the “Bankruptcy Legal Topics,” and, “Bankruptcy Billables,” sections for Steven Horowitz’s Bankruptcy Bill.
Do you like tables? Not kotatsu! I mean data tables! Ones that show where law schools and law students are geographically saturated in the United States. If you’re considering law school in the U.S., you have to see where not to go.
Bottleneck Attack!
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Matt Leichter (matt [dot] leichter [at] gmail [dot] com) (Saitama-ken 2003-05) is a renegade attorney who plays by his own rules. He operates his own blog, The Law School Tuition Bubble, where he archives, chronicles, and analyzes the rising cost and declining value of legal education in the United States. He also maintains the “Bankruptcy Legal Topics,” and, “Bankruptcy Billables,” sections for Steven Horowitz’s Bankruptcy Bill.
Plenty of people accept the facts about runaway law school tuition, but they think legal education is in a “bottleneck” until the economy recovers and law starts paying off again. Watch me defend the Dojo in, “Bottleneck Attack!”
The Big Bubble Battle (Bart II)
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Matt Leichter (matt [dot] leichter [at] gmail [dot] com) (Saitama-ken 2003-05) is a renegade attorney who plays by his own rules. He operates his own blog, The Law School Tuition Bubble, where he archives, chronicles, and analyzes the rising cost and declining value of legal education in the United States. He also maintains the “Bankruptcy Legal Topics,” and, “Bankruptcy Billables,” sections for Steven Horowitz’s Bankruptcy Bill.
Higher education costs more each year, but if a law school is just a bunch of classrooms, a library, and faculty, why is attending it so much more expensive? Place your bets on who will win the final bout of the Big Bubble Battle before clicking!
Theatre de Moon is casting for “Kutsukake Tokijiro ～a Makaroni Western～”, Benefit Staged Reading Performance.
We are seeking actors who are interested in our newly translated Japanese play.
As we had a success of the studio performance in June, 2009, we are keep on going this production to make a Off-Off-Broadway theatre.
To make it possible, we’ll have a Benefit Staged Reading Performance on July 31st.
The play by both in Japanese and English.
Please bring your monologue for audition.
This is for the Benefit Performance, however, there might be a chance for casting for the Off-Off-Broadway production in near future.
To make your reservation for audition. Please send us email:kurotama@cybercap.com
- Date:Thursday, June 3rd
- Time:6pm-10pm
- Place:CRS- 123 4th Ave., 2nd FL(between 12th&13th St.)
- New York, NY10003
- Play:Kutsukake Tokijiro
- Playwright:Shin Hasegawa
- Director:Jun Kim
- Translator:Keiko Tsuneda
- Music:Ryo Yoshimata
- Choreography:Kayoko Sakoh
- Benefit Staged Reading Performance:July 31st, 6pm-10pm
- Rehearsal Schedule:starts from June, weekends in June and July. Additional rehearsals in mid July.
- Tech & Dress rehearsal:July 30th, 5pm-10pm
- No pay
- www.kurotamakikaku.com
The Big Bubble Battle (Bart I): Enter the University
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Matt Leichter (matt [dot] leichter [at] gmail [dot] com) (Saitama-ken 2003-05) is a renegade attorney who plays by his own rules. He operates his own blog, The Law School Tuition Bubble, where he archives, chronicles, and analyzes the rising cost and declining value of legal education in the United States. He also maintains the “Bankruptcy Legal Topics,” and, “Bankruptcy Billables,” sections for Steven Horowitz’s Bankruptcy Bill.
If American law schools are festering in a tuition bubble, universities must be too! Right? Break out the tako-yaki and watch universities and law schools enter the sumo ring to see which bubble is bigger.
The Juris Doctor Is Your New Bass-O-Matic
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Matt Leichter (matt [dot] leichter [at] gmail [dot] com) (Saitama-ken 2003-05) is a renegade attorney who plays by his own rules. He operates his own blog, The Law School Tuition Bubble, where he archives, chronicles, and analyzes the rising cost and declining value of legal education in the United States. He also maintains the “Bankruptcy Legal Topics,” and, “Bankruptcy Billables,” sections for Steven Horowitz’s Bankruptcy Bill.
Like me, many American JETs contemplate going to law school when faced with their contracts expiring. You may hear about the value of the Juris Doctor – the degree that’s so flexible you can do anything with it. Find out why you should recontract and save your yennies by reading this.
How to Present Yourself to a Publisher or Agent at a writers conference
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Laura Popp (Mie-ken, 2009-Present) is a current JET who writes fantasy and science fiction for children and young adults, and is an occasional playwright/film maker. Her short work includes a short story titled “In theShadow Realm” and a documentary she made in Malawi. To read about her amazing adventures all over Japan, go to her blog at laurajanepopp.blogspot.com. (And check out the Authors/Books section of the JetWit Library for a list of more writers in the JET-o-sphere.)
Tired of submitting queries to agents and editors and simply getting form rejection letters or worse, NO RESPONSE? Wondering if they`re even bothering to read your stuff? Frustrated by wanting to submit to publishing houses that only receive submissions from agents and “referred” writers? Consider meeting publishers and agents at a conference!
Recently I returned from a writers` conference in my home in Oklahoma and came back with some great success stories to tell. Even better than the wonderful presentations on writing, polishing and marketing were the opportunities for networking and industry contacts. One literary agent asked me for the first fifty pages of my middle grade novel Dargon, another agent requested a proposal for my young adult novel Treasure Traitor, and a publisher from Simon and Shuster asked to see the full manuscripts of BOTH. A travel publisher also requested a proposal for a non-fiction travel-essay book on Japan, and best of all, a Christian magazine publisher accepted one of my stories on the spot! Of course, most of these are just birds in the bush, if you will, but they are certainly a good start.
So how did you do it? you may be wondering. Well, let me tell you…
Do your homework
Many conferences post information about editors and agents who will be attending in advance. Research them and pick the ones that look like they may be interested in your completed fiction projects or non-fiction ideas. Note that most agents and publishers will ONLY consider finished fiction works and proposals for non-fiction articles and books.
Try to make an appointment
If you have the option to make an appointment, Read More
New online JET group: JETAA Education Professionals
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Are you on LinkedIn? For those of you who are, or might want another incentive to join, there’s a new JET Alumni Association group in the mix.
There’s already the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme group for current and former participants with over 500 members, but now there is another especially for those looking to continue working in the education field. The JETAA Education Professionals group aims to connect those JET alums in or looking for teaching positions around the world. So if you’re looking to talk to and connect with other JETs working in schools and universities, this would be the place to start.
